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I don't have a degree in marketing or friends with degrees in marketing (thank god) so apologies if this is a terrible pitch.

MMO browser games are generally boring time-sinks that simply aren't fun, but for some reason I have been making one over the past couple of weeks! It's probably most similar to games like cybernations or nationstates, but I've also borrowed elements from other political strategy games like everything Paradox has ever done, Tropico, and some weird oldies like Balance of Power and Hidden Agenda.

You are the leader of a third world nation during the Cold War. You can do all things nations in that time period did - develop your economy, buddy up with either the US or USSR, make everyone call you Dear Leader, bomb other countries with chemical weapons, get invaded by a Coalition of the Willing, etc. You do this in competition with hundreds of other player-run nations, who, yes, you can invade and gas and nuke. If that's your kinda thing this is the game for you!

The game is not a massive time investment, and you can do everything in 15 minutes a day. It is a text game entirely in your browser, and is totally free (I don't even have ads up at the moment). I have no intention of adding micro-transactions or any of that bullshit, the most I'll do at some vague point in the future is give donors the option to have a custom flag or something.

To make this look more official looking here is a list of cool features:

OFFICIAL FEATURE LIST OF GAME "BLOC"

> When your government is more authoritarian the more descriptors are added in front of "Republic of." So a terrible dictatorship is called something along the lines of Great Revolutionary Democratic People's Republic, while a nice democracy merely goes by Republic.

> You can bomb your enemies to the disastrous point that their people rise up in revolution and ruin their country and kill them haha.

> Cold War so you can align with either of the big superpowers and piss in the others face yelling about communists/capitalists.

The game is not a massive time investment, and you can do everything in 15 minutes a day. It is a text game entirely in your browser, and is totally free (I don't even have ads up at the moment). I have no intention of adding micro-transactions or any of that bullshit, the most I'll do at some vague point in the future is give donors the option to have a custom flag or something.

Ads in a traditional browsergame are a lot worse than any modern monetization model can ever be, for both players and developers. There is no shame in taking money in exchange for goods and services with willing participants, fans even, but ads are designed to actively lure people away. That's a pretty big conflict of interest for this style of game and it wouldn't benefit you in the long-term (unless of course the ads are for your own games).

Ads in a traditional browsergame are a lot worse than any modern monetization model can ever be, for both players and developers. There is no shame in taking money in exchange for goods and services with willing participants, fans even, but ads are designed to actively lure people away. That's a pretty big conflict of interest for this style of game and it wouldn't benefit you in the long-term (unless of course the ads are for your own games).

What would be the best alternative to micro-transactions? I was going to put up simply a google ad or two, while giving people who pay to become premium members the ability to have a custom flag/portrait and some other aesthetic perks without directly affecting the game.

You'd have to design a game from the ground up for a modern free-to-play monetization model, so I wouldn't actually see that as an option unless you want to make giant changes.

For your situation specifically: Start accepting donations, put a monthly donation counter prominently on the main page after you log in (list the total for the month and the top donators), and give donators something unique and new every month. You will have to work out something your players actually want, preferably something to show off. It doesn't have to be big, just something nice.

Also put in a chatroom. Forums are one thing, but chat is where your long-term users will hang out.

This game is quite good. I was skeptical that one of these browser based games could actually be good but this one is :) The only criticism I have is that you run out of moves way too quickly. Being only able to do 1 or 2 things and then have to wait many hours for your money to regenerate will cause some people to lose interest.

This game is quite good. I was skeptical that one of these browser based games could actually be good but this one is :) The only criticism I have is that you run out of moves way too quickly. Being only able to do 1 or 2 things and then have to wait many hours for your money to regenerate will cause some people to lose interest.

Thanks! :) Browser games have a bad reputation, hopefully mine bucks the trend. I've been adding more and more stuff recently. The screenshots in the op already look old haha.

And yeah money can be a bit hard to come by at the moment. I intend to make it a bit more plentiful for new players.

You'd have to design a game from the ground up for a modern free-to-play monetization model, so I wouldn't actually see that as an option unless you want to make giant changes.

For your situation specifically: Start accepting donations, put a monthly donation counter prominently on the main page after you log in (list the total for the month and the top donators), and give donators something unique and new every month. You will have to work out something your players actually want, preferably something to show off. It doesn't have to be big, just something nice.

Also put in a chatroom. Forums are one thing, but chat is where your long-term users will hang out.

You have a thousand accounts. That's a good starting place.

The game is growing rather rapidly (between 50-100 new accounts a day), I'm going to put a donor option up soon. Right now I'm thinking of giving anyone who donates more than $10 a permanent donor status, the ability to freely upload custom flags and portraits among other things, and those who donate less the ability to upload a single custom flag/portrait (unless they donate again). Does this sound like a good idea?